Steven was a model worker. He had been a salesman-consultant for an internet
store for two years now, and while he hadn’t moved up beyond home electronics
and mass-market product sales, his future looked bright.
He genuinely loved his job. He put his all into every aspect of it, no matter what
they assigned him. There was a reason that, for two months running, Steven had
held the proud title of Salesman of the Month. You could see it right there, under
“Our Team” on the company web site. He was a lock to be promoted to the
premium products department sometime soon. There, he heard, they had a whole
different approach, a whole different level of responsibility.
And one day, in his work chat, Paul from the mobile phones division even said
they were looking for corporate sales consultants – who handled product by the
wagonload, with benefits miles better. Lots of Steven’s colleagues were excitedly
discussing the opportunity, but Steven never said a word.
He wasn’t the kind.
He believed in the principle of progress by baby steps. He didn’t try for too much,
too soon, and assiduously went on fulfilling his sales plan.
Today, for instance, he was working with a customer interested in a Philips
toaster. He opened a new chat window and typed a polite:
“Good afternoon. My name is Steven. How can I help you?”
The customer did not respond. That wasn’t unusual. The customer might be
reading through the product specifications before placing an order.
“Please let me know when you are ready, I will be happy to help,” Steven added,
and put the window in standby mode.
“Are you here?” The chat window finally became active again.
”Of course! Please tell me how I should address you.”
”Kate”
”Nice to meet you, Kate! My name is Steven. How can I be of service?”
”Steven, I want to meet you. Is this your real photograph?”
“Yes, of course it’s my real photograph. We’ve only just begun to talk. Can I
interest you in one of our products?”
“To be totally honest, I wrote because I liked your picture. I saw it in the staff
directory and decided to write. Recently, I’ve been so lonely…”
”Kate, you have no idea how well I understand that! I’ve also been lonely lately.
How about I invite you to see a movie? Maybe something from our ‘Romantic
Autumn’ collection of the twenty or so best films of the last five years? It’s really
good.”
“But how are going to watch them?”
“Unfortunately, I’m stuck at work. But we could watch them at the same time and
comment on them in the chat here. What do you say?”
“All right, let’s give it a try.”
“Kate, can I ask you to enter your credit card number? Unfortunately, we are not
allowed to purchase products from our own store. You have to be the one to buy
the film.”
“Sure, no problem. Here it is.”
One “Romantic Autumn”. Transaction successful. An access code has been sent
to the e-mail address you entered.
“We’re ready! Kate, I want to suggest we start with “River of Love,” it’s a real tear-
jerker.”
“Okay, Steve. May I call you Steve?”
“Of course you can, Kate. Please do, in fact. I like it. I’d like to offer you a glass of
pinot noir and a plate of French cheese, if that’s all right with you. Judging by
your address, they should get to you in about twenty minutes.”
“How did you guess that I love pinot noir?! That’s what I always buy. Yes, please,
that would be lovely!”
“Kate, it just happens to be my favorite wine. This is so nice, it looks like we have
the same taste. I’m sending it now!”
One Pinot Noir Reserve, Plate of French cheeses. Transaction successful.
Express delivery.
“Are you watching already, Kate? I think the heroine’s hairdo is kind of dumb.”
“Ha, ha, ha… my psych professor at the institute wore he hair kind of like that.”
“You studied psychology, then? Where?
“No, no, I got my degree in pedagogy. I teach math in a school. I just remembered
the instructor with the hairdo. What about you, Steve?”
“Kate, you already know that’s what I got my own degree in – psychology. But
I’m not doing it for a living, obviously. ”:)
“Oh, look! Steve, it’s your wine! That was quick!”
“Excellent! Don’t wait, pour a glass. And don’t forget about the cheeses!”
“Oh, the wine is heavenly! Thank you for the recommendation! Ha! Did you
notice how they met? So artificial! How would anyone possibly meet and actually
get to know each other in the subway?”
“Well, that’s Hollywood for you. They love making up fairy-tales like that. Normal
people meet in an internet store service chat :)))))”
“ :))))))”
“Kate, do you like to cook? I love French cuisine, myself. You?”
“Steve, you’re just full of surprises! French is my favorite!”
“Amazing. We have so much in common 🙂 Listen, then I really just have to
share this you – just recently I discovered sous vide cooking. It’s so good!
“You’re not going to believe this, but I was reading about that just yesterday! I
was even went and looked at some of the equipment. But it was kind of expensive.
“Oh, Kate, but you’ve never tried it! I have one at home, now I wouldn’t cook any
other way! And we happen to have them on sale right now. Although there was
such a run on them the price went back up a bit again. They’re going for 849.99. I
can ask the manager if I can get you the old price. They were just 599,99!”
“You mean it really does make the food that much better?
“It’s absolutely incredible! And… Ta-da!!! I got my manager to agree to let me give
you the old price!”
“You did?! I’ll take it!”
One sous vide. Transaction successful.
“Steve, what about meeting in real life?”
“Absolutely. Only I’m at work almost all the time. Let’s write each other
tomorrow, okay? Especially as we still have nineteen movies to go :)”
“Okay, let’s.”
“Good night, Kate!”
“Good night, Steve!”
Chat-bot Steven_2.102.1 session ended.
Server restart.
Chat-bot Steven_2.102.1 new session.
“Good afternoon. My name is Steven. How can I help you?”
